


A Girl, a Warrior

by spirit_of_a_wolf_85



Series: Dadkoda and his kids [3]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: She can and will kick you ass, She's the best, Suki is badass, seriously, the best girl
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:42:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27774778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spirit_of_a_wolf_85/pseuds/spirit_of_a_wolf_85
Summary: Aaaaand now it's Suki's turn! I gave her a little of backstory because. We just. Don't know anything. So yeah
Relationships: Hakoda & The Gaang (Avatar), Suki & Hakoda
Series: Dadkoda and his kids [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2023436
Comments: 2
Kudos: 39





	A Girl, a Warrior

“Dad! Dad! C’mon, I wanna spar with you!” Sokka yelled as he shook his father awake. Hakoda grunted. “Sokka… It’s too early… Lemme sleep for five minutes more…” the Chief tried to say. “Come on, dad! You’ve always been an early riser! You always woke up first!” Sokka insisted.

 _‘Yeah, but the other times I hadn’t stayed up all night comforting yet another teenager’_ , Hakoda thought. “Dad! Come on! Please!” Sokka insisted, and Hakoda sighed tiredly. Then, he heard another person come into the room. “Sokka! I said don’t wake your dad!” It was Zuko’s voice.

Hakoda listened to the young firebender, but couldn’t hear a trace of fear, like other times. Just annoyance. _‘Well, that’s an improvement since yesterday’_ Hakoda thought. Then, another voice, now a feminine one, talked. “Yeah, let him sleep! We wouldn’t want to cut off his rest just for practice.” It was Suki, and the young girl sounded almost more reluctant than Zuko.

Hakoda groaned. Another traumatised child? It was too early to extract any conclusions, but Hakoda had to keep an eye to Suki. Her hard tone around him was already worrying, and Hakoda liked to deal with his problems as soon as possible.

“Gimme five minutes and I’ll be in the training level. Just _please, for the love of La,_ tell me Katara has made breakfast.” Hakoda said, his voice still sleepy. “Of course she has, she’s quite the responsible young girl.” Sokka scoffed. “Thank you. Now, go. I’ll be there in ten minutes.” Hakoda pointed to the door.

“YOU SAID FIVE!” Soka said indignantly. “HE SAID GO, SOKKA!” Zuko argued, and Hakoda saw his son being pulled towards the exit. “We’re sorry, Hakoda” Zuko smiled sheepishly and awkwardly. Hakdoa grunted. “You’re apologizing?” “Oh” Zuko said. “Sorry.”

“Still apologizing!” Hakoda smiled with closed eyes. “Sorry!” Zuko repeated, and ran off after Sokka and Suki. Hakoda clucked and exited of his bed, dressing up for the day. Then, he sleepily dragged himself to the kitchen, where Katara, Aang and Toph were eating breakfast.

“Dad! Here, I made your breakfast.” Katara smiled sweetly, and Hakoda mumbled “Thanks, my baby.” “You’re welcome, dad.” Katara smiled. “Shouldn’t you be sleeping? I kept you awake for long yesterday, and you should be healing from prison.” Aang asked worriedly. “I _wanted_ to sleep, but _someone_ woke me for a sparring match.” Hakoda complained and ate quickly.

“Zuko woke you?” Katara’s tone hardened. “No, your brother did.” Hakoda said, but he saw that _the argument_ was starting again. “What’s the matter with you?” Toph yelled. Yup, it was starting again.

As Katara and Toph started to yell at each other, Hakoda patted Aang’s shoulder. “I promised Sokka to spar with him. I’ve got to get going. Can you avoid a murder, please?” He asked at the airbender. Aang clucked and nodded. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep the Temple from exploding.” He said, and Hakoda smiled.

“Thanks, Aang.” Hakoda smiled and grabbed his spear from the wall. Then, he walked towards the training terrace. Sokka, Zuko and Suki were already there. Sokka had his boomerang, and a black sword that Hakoda knew it had been crafted by himself. Zuko had his dao swords, as promised. And Suki had a pair of fans.

“Where did you get those?” Hakoda pointed at them. “Well, we went to a nearby village...” Suki started. “And a man was selling them like trophies, so we stole...” Sokka continued “Bought!” Zuko cut in. “Yeah, we bought them.” Sokka finished, grinning evilly. Hakoda sighed. “Okay, you didn’t get caught, that’s good.” “Actually...” Zuko hesitated. “No, Nope, no, I don’t wanna know, you didn’t get caught. End of the story.” Hakoda said. He didn’t have enough strength to deal with this.

“Okay, so Zuko and I go first. Then, dad and Suki. The best out of the two matches fights for the first place, and the other fights for the third place. Alright?” Sokka said.

“Alright!” Zuko and Suki yelled. Hakoda nodded. And the first match started.

Zuko and Sokka were both skilled, and the fight was even. Zuko, even no-one had said a thing against bending, didn’t use his fire, maybe out of respect towards his opponent. _This_ was the Fire Nation when it wasn’t corrupted, loyal, brave, stubborn, honourable. 

Zuko and Sokka kept taunting each other as they exchanged strikes. “Is this the best you can do, your highness?” Sokka laughed as he dodged a slash from Zuko’s left dao. Zuko just laughed and proceeded to jump backwards, just in time to avoid Sokka’s space sword. “Look who’s talking, Water Tribe!”

Sokka parried and slashed, pressing forwards. Zuko was light on his feet, and he dodged. Zuko favoured of course his right side, but, as much as Sokka tried to catch him off guard from the left, where his scar was, he couln’t even land a blow. Zuko had his left side better guarded than his right.

The spar ended when Zuko knocked Sokka’s sword out of his hands, and Hakoda was surprised when Sokka didn’t complain, not even a bit. Because yes, Zuko had won, but it had been out of luck. Sokka had tripped slightly. But he didn’t complain. Hakoda was impressed.  
He glanced to Suki. “You ready?” And she was. She had her fans already in attack position, and she had a typical stance of an earthbender. She nodded. Hakoda smiled, and he gripped his spear.

He waited for her to do the first movement, but she just jumped backwards, examining him. Hakoda could almost see how she pointed out his strong and weak points inside her brain. Then, she lunged forwards, closing in.

Despite being from the Earth kingdom, Suki had the grace of a waterbender, and it was difficult for Hakoda to block her swift attacks. She used her fans well, and the Chief of the Southern Water Tribe tasted their sharp edges more than once.

Hakoda wasn’t bad either. He had the advantage of the range, so he tried to keep a distance between him and the Kyoshi Warrior. He knew well how to use his spear, a weapon Sokka had kept for him the day of Black Sun. It felt great to have it in his hands again.

Hakoda ducked under one of Suki’s strikes, and he grinned. “You’re doing pretty good! Keep it up!” He knew that he was in the middle of a match, but this was the best moment to pass a test on Suki.

Suki simply dodged Hakoda’s stab, and she blocked his incoming swipe. She jumped to strike from above, her vantage being on her superior agility, but she didn’t know that Hakoda had already considered this, seeing her take on the warden of the Boiling Rock. He knew that Suki would pull something like this, so Hakoda put her spear in horizontal and blocked the fans, sending Suki directly to the ground with a loud _crash!_

“Oh La, are you okay?” Hakoda hurried to her side at the same time Sokka and Zuko jumped from their seat. Suki glared at him “Yeah dad, I’m fine, stop controlling everything I do!”  
_Oh Tui, here we come,_ Hakoda thought as Suki’s glare faded, and it was replaced by brief confusion and embarrassment. She rubbed her head, and she tightened her lips. “I’m sorry, Chief Hakoda. It was on instinct.” Suki said, glancing to her feet.

“That’s alright. I may have been a little overenthusiastic.” Hakoda smiled kindly, but nobody missed the preoccupation in his voice. “Anyways, that was a good match! I was terrified when you counterattacked like that…” Hakoda started rambling, and it seemed that Suki loosened up a little. Just a bit. 

“I especially liked that last swipe you did” Zuko entered the conversation, eying Hakoda. The Fire Prince was more observant than he let on, he already had guessed what Hakoda was trying to do. _Adopt another child_ , He thought amusedly.

Sokka intervened, praising his dad’s agility despite having been in prison for a long time. Hakoda smiled at Sokka’s beam, Zuko’s awkward smile and Suki’s smirk. They were a good team, and it was clear that they knew so. But he had to talk to Suki.

“Hey, I’m going to see if Aang is doing his morning meditations. Come with me, Sokka.” Zuko said, glancing at Hakoda meaningfully. Hakoda smirked and nodded. “Last time I saw him, he was preventing a double murder, so I don’t think he’s been meditating.”  
Zuko groaned. “Why is teaching the Avatar so difficult?” He sighed, exasperated, and grabbed Sokka by the wrist and dragged him away, Sokka laughing at the Fire Prince’s expense.

Hakoda turned to Suki. “If you don’t mind, I’d like a rematch.”

\---

Suki eyed the man before him and decided that he certainly had something strange in him. It was so strange, a feeling that she had hidden, that repulsion against a father figure she had buried long ago now blooming in a newfound and incomprehensible hate on the Chief of the Southern Water Tribe.

At the same time, she had been observing him. Not like Zuko, who was a little too obvious for his own good, but at the Kyoshi–warrior style, silent and careful. Hakoda was smart, strong, and he certainly could be scary, as demonstrated yesterday, when he had made Zuko panic. His voice was strong and steady, and he knew how to talk.

Suki was disgusted on how Hakoda was _so much like her own father._ She had thought that Sokka and Katara had a normal childhood, but seeing Hakoda, hearing him talk and interact with his children, she decided that theirs had been a rougher childhood than hers.

So, when Hakoda offered her a rematch, Suki didn’t hesitate. Maybe Zuko’s way to solve problems was panicking, and Aang’s was running away, and Toph’s was claiming that they didn’t exist. There was nothing wrong with that, but Suki wasn’t that way. She _fought_ her problems head-on, and she intended to do the same with this man.

“I won’t hold back this time.” Suki said, her scowl even bigger than before. She had been polite. No more. “That’s what I like to hear.” Hakoda said, his lopsided grin _so much like Sokka’s and Katara’s._ Suki eased her stance to the familiar fighting position, and she saw Hakoda do the same, but he seemed distracted.

Now she attacked first, not waiting a second, her fans digging in Hakoda’s clothes. Hakoda jumped backwards and blocked her second strike with a sideways swipe. She slided under his spear and closed distance. Now, fans against spear, Suki met the Chief’s eyes and saw nothing but worry. Not arrogance, not concentration. Just worry.

And Suki wondered what he was thinking about.

Suki snapped herself out of the trance she had entered and backfliped, using a nearby column to impulse herself directly towards her sparing partner’s undefended chest. Hakoda noticed and ducked just in time to avoid her fan, but Suki noticed that he hesitated. _He was going easy on her._

And Suki didn’t know if it was because the previous worry in his eyes, but she didn’t feel as angry as before. Hakoda clearly wanted to talk to her as he had talked with Zuko, and he was looking for an opening. But Suki was difficult to talk to, and she knew it. Her emotions had always been buried in a cape of happy faces and strong swipes of her weapons. 

She realized that she had also been looking for the opportunity to talk to someone.

She had considered before explaining her past to Sokka, Katara, Aang and Toph before, but Sokka and Katara adored their father. Aang never knew their parents. And, for what she had heard, Toph’s parents had been just as stupid, or even more, than her dad. Then, with Zuko, she had realized that her parent problem wasn’t as bad as his. 

She needed someone that wouldn’t judge her, but was Hakoda the right person to confide in? Suki didn’t know.

She had become distracted but Hakoda hadn’t taken advantage of that. He approached with his spear lowered, his face even more worried than before. “Are you okay?” He asked. “You kinda blacked out here for a sec.” Hakoda said, and in his eyes there was still _that infuriating worry_ that raised the hairs on Suki’s neck.

“Oh, uh yeah, I just was thinking…” Suki said, and _she was a very bad liar._ Hakoda raised his eyebrows in a sceptic way, but didn’t comment on it. Suki was glad about it. “You wanna sit? I’ve been meaning to talk to you for a while.” Suki was not so glad about this, but she was tired, so she shrugged and crossed her legs, immediately sitting cross-legged on the floor.

Hakoda mimicked her and sighed. “You don’t like me much, do you?” He asked, like he was talking about the weather. At least he was being honest and straightforward, something _her_ father never was.

“I have… mixed feelings about you. I’ve been waiting to pass judgement.” Suki said coldly “Mind telling me why?” Hakoda said, interested but talking lightly, just like Sokka talked about theatre and weapons. Like he took her seriously, and he was really trying to connect with her.

Suki needed this. But she couldn’t. _But she wanted to talk._ But what if he burdened him? _But what if not? What if it helped?_ But what if he didn’t listen? _But what if he did?_

Suki sighed, and she felt how Hakoda took an especial interest on the tip of his spear. He was waiting, Suki realized. She could decide, and there would be absolutely no consequences whether she decided to confide in him or not. That eased her mind a bit.

Suki glared down and said “Sure, why not.” Immediately, Hakoda forgot his weapon and listened to her. Not only with her ears, she realized. She hadn’t even started talking and his posture, his face, were telling her ‘ _talk, you’re being listened’_ and _‘please don’t forget I’m always listening’_. That compelled her to talk even more.

“Well, it all started with my mum. She was a Kyoshi warrior just like me.” Suki smiled fondly at her memory. “There was nothing wrong with that. Quite the contrary, I adored her. She took me to train when I was so young. I was always destined to serve under Kyoshi, you know. My first word was ‘fan’.”

Hakoda nodded and smiled, encouraging Suki to continue. “But my dad… he didn’t like mom fighting, and much less me. I am a girl, and he… well, he didn’t think I was up to the task.” Those words engraved in her mind were the ones that kept making Suki surpass herself every day, prove that girls were _just as good_ as men could be.

Hakoda clucked. “The Northern Water Tribe think alike. The Southern doesn’t, and that had always been a huge motive of dispute between our tribes. I’m the first admitting that Katara, being a girl _and_ younger than me, can take me out in _seconds._ ” His intervention was just at the right moment, proving to Suki that he really was sympathizing with her and adding humour to the situation.

“Yeah... anyways, I continued training. That is, until mom and dad had the biggest fight ever. And it was because of my training.” Suki sighed, promising not to cry. She _couldn’t_ cry, or her strong warrior façade would shatter, leaving the scared useless girl.

“Mom… she had always been brave. But Dad, he was strong, and he was drunk. Mom didn’t have her weapons with her, and… Dad took advantage of her being defenceless. Of course she fought, but… in the end, it wasn’t enough. He killed her. I was six.” Suki said, glaring to the floor.

“Nobody blamed him for his crime. I was the only who knew, and nobody believed me because I was _young_ , and I was a _girl_ , and I was a _warrior._ Nobody.” Suki sighed, pushing back tears. 

“I lived two years with fear; my father controlling me at every step of my way. Fighting had gotten my mother killed, so I did not fight. One problem: fighting is in my blood, just like bending is in an air, water, earth or fire bender’s blood. A bender is born with their power, their blessing of a spirit. Not bending would be the same than not breathing.” Suki said.

“That’s true. A bender who does not bend can become ill, and lose their connection.” Hakoda had done a lot of research on the topic when Katara had turned out to be a waterbender, so he knew everything he had to know: the push and pull, Tui and La, the moon and the ocean, the connection between worlds, the never-ending rotation in their sanctuary up in the north.

“I was born with the spirit of Kyoshi inside. Fighting is to me as bending is to a bender. Mom understood. Dad did not. When I was prohibited from fighting, I became weak, I didn’t eat, I spent a lot of time in bed, resting. That’s when I decided that I needed to fight, so when I was seven, I grabbed my mom’s fans and hided to train.”

“That kept going for a year. Dad would control all of my movements, and I would escape from time to time to train. The punishment for that was… severe, but I could handle the pain. Then, when I was eight, dad fell ill.” Suki said.

“He didn’t die, tough he was about to. During his illness, I enrolled with the Kyoshi Warriors. Within a month of training, I was the best of my battalion. They made me their leader. I was so happy –I was just like mom! The head of the Kyoshi Warriors! The eye of Kyoshi! Then, two months later, dad got better.” Suki sighed.

Hakoda looked at her, and while his eyes were curious, he said “We can stop here if you want. You don’t have to tell me everything.” And now Suki knew she couldn’t stop, not now, she had to keep talking. She didn’t need to say anything, though –Hakoda understood easily.

“We had too a fight, but unlike my mom, I was prepared. I told him I was going to be the best fighter in the whole world. He told me I was going to stay at home. He attempted to kill me too –but I counterattacked, and then I fled. Since then, I’ve only seen him two times more, buying things at the market, and he didn’t even look at me. I’ve been… on my own, but the warriors took me in.” Suki finished.

She stayed silent, and waiting for Hakoda’s judgement. Instead of a glare, he only found pity –a sharer’s pity, the one that only someone who has endured something similar could give. Suki suddenly wasn’t so eager to defy the man, quite the contrary. She felt a pull to follow whatever he said –whatever he said, it was for her own good.

She wondered if that was what a father really was like.

“Suki, I… _of course_ you keep acting wary around me. I’m sorry if I ever made you feel unsafe. I can be a little overenthusiastic somet-” Hakoda started, but Suki cut him. “No, No! It was me. I’m sorry, Chief Hakoda. I’m sorry for treating you like that.” Suki was now at the verge of tears.

\---

Hakoda’s heart couldn’t stand it more. When hearing Suki’s apology, he dragged her into a hug. He let go immediately, but both of them needed it. “Suki, If I ever make you feel uncomfortable, if I ever scare you or even look at you the wrong way, _tell me_. Tell me, and I will try to remedy it before it escalates. Please?” He said. The Kyoshi warrior –a well-earned title, if anyone asked Hakoda –nodded, and hided her tears quickly, like she was not allowed to cry.

“I’m –I’m going to see if I can help with lunch.” Her voice was rough and tired, but she didn’t look as tense as before. “Suki.” Hakoda called. He had already given advice to two kids, one more didn’t matter. Right?

She turned with surprise. “Remember that your gender doesn’t define you. If Katara and Toph have accomplished being the better benders of their generation when they’re both girls… You can and _will_ become the best warrior in the whole world. I’m sure” Hakdoa said with a truthful smile. Suki –the warrior, the girl –nodded, smiled, and ran off down the Air Temple.

Hakoda sighed. Why did parenting had to be so difficult?

He walked down the temple and joined Katara and Suki with the lunch as he listened Zuko yell at Aang about responsibility, Sokka laughing in the background and Toph throwing pebbles and shouting “Good one!” and “Ohhh, burned!” when someone made a good argument. Teo was talking with Haru about his wheelchair, and the Duke snored against the youngest’s shoulder. Chit Sang was meditating –or asleep, nobody could meditate with that level of yelling and earth being moved sounds.

Hakoda looked around. Everybody seemed at ease, happy. He wished that things could stay this way, but he knew that it was impossible.

\---

Suki’s wrist had been _a little_ injured on her crash, but her objective was clear: be the master of this Kyoshi-damned Fire Nation airship. She would have to fight high-powered-by-Sozin’s-comet firebenders, but that was no issue for a warrior like her.

She threw twenty, thirty and fifty men into the water below them to gain control of the airship. Only one problem remained: the captain.

“You are a useless, Earth Kingdom _girl_. Even if you were Fire Nation, you couldn’t take me-” He said, fire already approaching her. Threatening. Dangerous. About to kill…

_  
No. I’m the best Kyoshi warrior…  
…And the best warrior girl!  
_

And with a well-thrown punch in the stomach, the captain went flying. Suki yelled in delight and danced under the comet’s beautiful light. She had done it, and all of her own!  
Wait…

Suki heard a familiar voice, saying “It looks like this is the end, Toph.” And it was incredibly sad, heartbroken, accepting his fate, accepting death. Sokka. Toph…

No.

Suki the Kyoshi warrior girl had yet another mission to complete, and she wasn’t going to fail. She wasn’t going to let her friends die. She was going to make her mother and Kyoshi proud.

_They already were proud, and they guarded each of her movements until the very end._

**Author's Note:**

> So this is the third work in these series and this is going so quick. Idk who will be next, but I think it'll be Toph. So yeah. 
> 
> I end most of my senteces with 'so yeah'.


End file.
